The Austrian bass-baritone Alexander Grassauer received his musical training with Sigrid Rennert before continuing his studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna under Professor Karlheinz Hanser and in the renowned Lied class of Professor Florian Boesch. He has also drawn significant artistic inspiration from working with Ramón Vargas, Robert Holl, and Kammersängerin Elīna Garanča. His artistic excellence is reflected in numerous international competition successes. In addition to winning the prestigious Birgit Nilsson Prize at Operalia 2025 and the SWR Emmerich Smola Prize, Alexander Grassauer is First Prize winner of the International Johannes Brahms Competition, the Ferruccio Tagliavini Competition, and the Hariclea Darclée International Voice Competition. Further distinctions include prizes at the International Hugo Wolf Competition for Lied Art in Stuttgart and the Otto Edelmann Competition in Vienna.
Grassauer began his operatic career with engagements as Masetto (Don Giovanni) at the Stadttheater Baden near Vienna, the Marchese d'Obigny (La traviata) at the Klosterneuburg Opera Festival, and Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) at the Schlosstheater Schönbrunn. He subsequently gained international experience as the Speaker in Die Zauberflöte on the Teatro alla Scala's tour to Shanghai. From 2020 to 2024, he was a member of the ensemble at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, where he established himself in major bass-baritone repertoire, including Leporello (Don Giovanni), Don Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia), and Alidoro (La Cenerentola). Career highlights that followed include appearances at Deutsche Oper am Rhein and the Semperoper Dresden, as well as his acclaimed debut at the Bayreuth Festival as Hermann Ortel (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, conducted by Daniele Gatti), Melot (Tristan und Isolde, conducted by Semyon Bychkov), and Donner (Das Rheingold, conducted by Christian Thielemann).
Grassauer opens the 2026/27 season at the Semperoper Dresden with the revival of Der Florentiner Hut. Around the turn of the year, he makes his house debut at the Vienna State Opera as Gefängnisdirektor Frank in Die Fledermaus, before appearing as Don Fernando in a new production of Beethoven's Leonore at the Theater an der Wien, directed by Stefan Herheim. He also returns to the Bavarian State Opera for his role debut as Gunther in Wagner's Götterdämmerung in Tobias Kratzer's eagerly anticipated new production, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.
Alexander Grassauer is equally in demand as a concert singer and regularly collaborates with leading orchestras and conductors worldwide. He has appeared with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Andris Nelsons and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Fabio Luisi. Following earlier successes such as Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 at the Salzburg Festival Hall and Mendelssohn's Paulus at Vienna's Musikverein, the 2026/27 season takes him to Rome for Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Daniel Harding and to Prague for further performances under Semyon Bychkov. At the Baden-Baden Easter Festival, he performs Mozart's Requiem and Beethoven's Choral Fantasy alongside Alice Sara Ott and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under Joana Mallwitz. Another outstanding highlight is Mozart's Coronation Mass in St Peter's Basilica with the Vienna Philharmonic under Riccardo Muti. In Bergen, he appears in Handel's Messiah and Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony alongside Camilla Nylund, while engagements at the Vienna Konzerthaus include Haydn's Die Schöpfung and Beethoven's Christus am Ölberge.
Lied occupies a particularly important place in Alexander Grassauer's artistic profile. During the current season, he presents Schubert's Schwanengesang in recital performances in Vienna with pianist Andreas Fröschl, as well as at the renowned Schubertiade Hohenems together with pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz.